


Playing Vet

by magicsophicorn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 09:23:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4132276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicsophicorn/pseuds/magicsophicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Miss Lucas, are you honestly trying to tell me that the Big Bad Wolf woke the Evil Queen at 2am in order to get her to play vet for a few splinters?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Playing Vet

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from becksthewolf on tumblr - Ruby gets a thorn in her paw when she's running and Regina has to pull it out. Bonus points if Ruby's being a big baby about it.
> 
> Set in series 2 after Ruby learns to control the wolf again.

Regina woke to the sound of howling outside her window.

Sliding out of bed, she frowned as she noticed the glowing display on the bedside clock - 2:00am.

Crossing quickly to the window, she pulled back the curtains and peered outside. It took her a moment to spot it. A shadow darker than the others, two glittering eyes peering up at her. Everything about the scene screamed _danger_ , but Regina merely watched. After a moment the shadow moved, a huge black wolf stepping slowly into the moonlight. Regina gasped in realisation.

"Ruby."

Pulling on her robe Regina hurried through the house to the back door. What was Ruby doing here? Over the past few weeks they had somehow become friends, which Regina found both surprising and pleasing. But for Ruby to turn up at her house at 2am during wolfstime, well, surely something must be wrong? Gods, she hoped Ruby hadn't eaten anyone. No doubt she herself would get blamed for it somehow.

She quickly unlocked the back door and stepped outside, pulling her robe tighter around herself and crossing her arms over her chest at the sudden change in temperature.

"Miss Lucas, I trust you have a good reason for waking me up at 2am? Now that time is moving forward again beauty sleep has become somewhat more important, unfortunately."

Regina wasn't sure exactly how she was expecting Ruby to respond, but it certainly wasn't to lie down, resting her head on her paws, and whining like a kicked puppy. Somehow the enormous wolf managed to look simultaneously pathetic, adorable, and fearsome. It was quite disconcerting.

"What on earth is the matter with you?"

Ruby raised her head and shuffled forward, still whining softly. When she was a bit closer to Regina she extended her right paw, turning it so that Regina could see the pad. She immediately noticed the thorns sticking out of it and she rolled her eyes.

"Miss Lucas, are you honestly trying to tell me that the Big Bad Wolf woke the Evil Queen at 2am in order to get her to play vet for a few splinters?"

Ruby whined again and rested her head back down on her paws. She looked so utterly sorry for herself that Regina couldn't help but sigh in defeat.

"Alright, fine. Wait there while I fetch the first aid kit."

A few minutes later, with tweezers in hand, Regina knelt in front of the wolf.

"Paw," she said, holding out her hand and feeling utterly ridiculous as she did so. Ruby gingerly placed her giant paw over Regina's hand, and Regina carefully began to remove the thorns with the tweezers. Ruby continued to whine softly throughout the process, and yelped occasionally when Regina pulled out a particularly deeply embedded thorn.

After pulling out the last thorn Regina reached up without thinking and scratched the wolf behind the ear.

"Good girl, all done."

Regina froze.

Withdrawing her hand sharply she started to apologise.

"I'm sorry, I…"

But as she spoke Ruby shuffled forward and gently placed her head in Regina's lap. Regina blinked in surprise.

"Miss Lucas, what do you think you're doing? You are not a puppy."

Ruby just continued to look up at her and, utterly horrified at herself, Regina found that she could not resist the urge to pet the wolf again. She blamed those ridiculous puppy-dog eyes.

"Very well," she sighed, "but if you tell anyone about this I will skin you alive and turn your pelt into a rug, do you understand me?"

She once again began scratching behind the wolf's ears, and couldn't help but smile as Ruby nuzzled her head against her stomach.

Just then a particularly cold breeze reminded Regina just where, and when, they were.

"Off, Miss Lucas," she said, gently pushing at the wolf's head, "unlike you I don't have fur to keep me warm. I need to go indoors."

Freed from her furry burden, Regina stood and headed towards the house. As she reached the back door she realised that she had been followed.

"Run along now, Miss Lucas, I'm done playing vet for the night and I'm sure you have rabbits to chase, or houses to blow down, or something."

Instead of leaving, the wolf just cocked her head to one side and whined softly.

Regina tried to resist, she really did. But there was just something about seeing such a powerful animal and woman behaving like this that she found utterly adorable.

"Fine," she sighed, and felt like it was becoming a habit this evening, "but in the morning you are vacuuming up your own fur, and you are _not_ sleeping at the end of my bed. In fact, you are not going anywhere near my bedroom. Is that clear?"

In the end they made it as far as the study, where on the couch they resumed their previous positions, with Ruby's head in Regina's lap, and Regina petting and scratching her until they both fell asleep.

Five hours later, when Regina awoke to find a fully human and very naked Ruby Lucas laying with her head in her lap and Regina's hand in her hair, was possibly one of the most embarrassing moments of both women's lives.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, please feel free to send me prompts on here or on [on tumblr.](http://magicsophicorn.tumblr.com)


End file.
